Community pub plans could be 'abandoned'

A community group whose members have spent eight years trying to save and reopen a derelict pub have said they may have to abandon their plans.

The Henry Jenkins Group was awarded a £330,000 grant from the government's Community Ownership Fund to help it buy the inn of the same name in the village of Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon.

However, their campaign has stalled and they risk losing the money because the pub's owner has refused to sell it to them at a price that they believe reflects its value.

The owner has said he does not believe the Henry Jenkins is viable because there are several other pubs in the area.

Richard Sadler, the group's chair, said that eight offers for the building had been rejected and that there were concerns about its deteriorating condition.

“The woodwork on the windows is rotten, round the back the roof is starting to collapse”, Mr Sadler added.

He said more than £200,000 had been secured in "pledges" from local people who bought shares for the pub's renovation and refurbishment.

He said that despite the impasse with the pub's owner, David Fielder, there was a "huge amount" of support in the village for the group's vision.

Mr Fielder, who operates 18 other pubs across Yorkshire, bought the Henry Jenkins in 2011, and said he would prefer to sell it as a pub, but that he did not believe it was still viable as licensed premises.

He struggled to find a tenant to run the site and said licensees told him they did not believe Kirkby Malzeard could support four pubs with a population of 900 people.

He has instead submitted a number of planning applications to convert the building into housing, but they have been refused.

He said: “I’m not a developer. I’ve owned pubs since 1987. We are not into asset stripping and I don’t believe that many people that buy pubs are.”

North Yorkshire Council has now agreed to act as mediator between the group and Mr Fielder to find a solution.

The dispute has shone a light on what Mr Sadler said was a wider problem of pubs having insufficient legal protection from redevelopment.

The Henry Jenkins Group's members want the government to reform planning laws to stop developers "land banking" pubs that could still trade successfully.

Earlier this year, the new government announced a plan for a community "right to buy" option for pubs as part of the proposed English Devolution Bill.

Mr Sadler said the new legislation was welcome but might not go far enough.

“What we are seeing is speculative developers buying up old pubs because of their value potentially as housing.

“There needs to be some sort of obligation placed on owners of pubs to accept a valuation that would be done by an independent valuer, and only then would you stop this kind of thing happening."

The campaign group has written to the new housing and communities minister, Alex Norris, calling for urgent action to close loopholes in the planning system.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the English Devolution Bill would give people “real power to take ownership of these assets” and that they would announce more details in due course.

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